It is estimated that in the period 2014-2018 more than 40 fires in the US must be attributed to birds sitting on power lines
A new US study, the most comprehensive of its kind in the US to date, has concluded that dozens fires in the country in previous years started by birds that were electrocuted from power cables. Something similar happens in many countries.
The researchers, led by biologist Taylor Barnes of the Department of Geography & Environment at the University of Denver and EDM International in Colorado, published their findings in the Wildlife Society Bulletin, according to the journal Science. estimate that in the period 2014-2018 more than 40 fires in the US should be attributed to birds sitting on wires of the electricity transmission network.
If a bird is struck by lightning and “cooked” by the current, it can fall to the ground like a flaming “Molotov cocktail” and thus start a fire, especially if the area is very dry and there is fuel all around, which is especially true in the Mediterranean areas.
The problem is more serious with large birds like owls, hawks and eagles and generally those with large wingsbecause they are more likely to touch two wires at the same time, according to ornithologist Graham Marty of the British University of Birmingham.
Humans are considered to be responsible for the vast majority of fires, but other non-human factors, such as the thunderbolts, the hot radiation of the sun (which alone can set fire to dry grass) and flaming birds.
On the other hand, according to the researchers, the current wires in the most isolated and forested areas, are a threat to the rarest bird species. A recent study from Iran found that of the 235 birds that were electrocuted in 2018, 15% were endangered species.
Because the problem of birds starting fires is global and growing, one solution, experts say, would be for electricity companies to insulate power lines and to place pins on them so that the birds can not sit. As well as build special platforms that will allow birds to rest on the transformers of the mains in a safer way.
Although this entails costs, the potential costs of compensation from time to time to be paid by electricity companies, as well as the cost to human lives and property damage following a major fire, should be taken into account.
See here the scientific publication
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